After A Heart Attack: More Exercise Isn't Always Better

Survivors of heart attacks recommended exercise regularly to improve heart health, but the latest research found the existence of the negative side.

"More is not always better," said study researcher Paul Williams, a staff scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif.

Williams track nearly 2.400 survivors of heart attacks from a long-term study of runners and walkers for about 10 years. In General, the sport much more reduced the risk of death due to a heart attack up to 65 percent, he said.

However, running more than 48 km a week or walking more than 74 km per week has the opposite effect, more than doubled risk of heart attack, as revealed in the study.

Throughout the decades of study, 526 people died, nearly ¾ of a heart attack and heart disease.

Because the study was limited to the people who survived a heart attack, Williams was not able to say whether the findings would apply to healthy adults who exercise intensively.

Survivors of heart attacks that excessive exercise including a little, with only 6% ran beyond the 48 km or run 74 km a week, in the study.

For most participants, exercising more but still with a certain limit reduce the risk of death due to heart attack dramatically, discovered by Williams.

Experts say that the results are not surprising.

The study points out, "you don't have a lot to work out to get much benefit," from a health point of view, said Dr. Carl Lavie, Medical Director of cardiac rehabilitation and prevention at the Cardiology Institute of the heart and blood vessels John Ochsner, New Orleans.

According to the Guide to physical activity for residents of the United States, 150 minutes a week of moderate-intensity exercise or 75 minutes of high-intensity exercise are advised.

Williams wasn't sure why people who work out at the highest level of risky died of a heart attack or whether the results would apply to activities other than walking or running.

The study found that the benefits of running the equivalent of a run. However, running two times longer than running to burn the calories in the same amount. The study was published online on August 12 in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

In the same issue, researchers describe the discovery of Spain 10 study published, observing the effects of exercise on the longevity of elite athletes.

The study involves more than 42.000 athletes, mostly men, who have participated in football, baseball, athletics, and cycling. Elite athletes live longer than the general population, according to the study. The findings suggested that the effects of exercise for health, especially to reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer, are not always limited to moderate doses.

The invention must not be contrary to other studies, said Lavie, author of the additional opinion articles in the study.

"At least a relief to know that the activity of the athletics, competing high, high-level Athletics does not seem to correlate with decreased chances of survival, but in fact with the benefit of survival," he said.

Moreover, Lavie says that exercise is done athletes often are not as extreme as marathon runners.

Same as suggested by the doctor of the heart, said Dr. James O'Keefe, author of another opinion articles and additional cardiologist at the mid-America Heart Institute of St. Luke's in Kansas City, MO. "sport is the best thing you can do to your health, "he said, if it is done not to overdo it.

"There is good when just sitting, but you could just do it is excessive," he said.

According to Keefe, if you exercise especially for health benefits, 2.5-5 hours a week including heavy sports a lot. Keefe and his colleagues also stated that 1 or 2 days of rest per week may also be effective.